Dad Movie Review: Tom and Jerry

There is no way on God's green Earth that I am going to give a negative film review. The fact that I was in a movie theatre on March 6, 2021 was like winning the lifetime achievement award at the Oscars. I had not been in a theatre since Sonic the Hedgehog. 

Yes, folks, I hope one day my pandemic life will be defined by the trials and tribulations between Sonic and Tom and Jerry. Watching the movie at Westwood Plaza Theatre and Cafe, it was a reminder of how far we have come and how much farther we have to go. 

In the early 1940s, Pearl Harbor was bombed, Mount Rushmore was completed, and Tom Cat began a decades long chase of Jerry Mouse. While pandemic life has felt much like being bludgeoned with an animated mallet, it is important to travel back to the era when we welcomed Tom and Jerry. There was World War II. Jonas Salk did not discover the polio vaccine until 1953. Brown vs. Board of Education would not be ruled until 1954. War...disease..injustice...Tom and Jerry.  

Sound familiar?

In 2021, Tom faces a familiar foe, Jerry, as we face an equally familiar adversary - ourselves. Now, Tom and Jerry absolutely do not model how to resolve conflict. They rely on nonverbal ridicule and violence; however, they are blessed with the inability to speak, so they do avoid the verbal ridicule trap. Every generation that has watched Tom and Jerry has lived through something; survived something; had some sort of mallet bludgeoning. We are often conflicted. 

The next generation has been awarded an arsenal of capability through innovation, technology, and the wealth within these United States. On a recent family outing to Johnstown's Heritage Discovery Center, I was reminded of how an immigrants' journey to our shores was full of hardship and heartache. Perseverance was a necessity. There was no Instagram; no instant gratification; uncertainty around every corner. 

And for and hour and a half this Saturday, I knew around every corner, Tom would be after Jerry. Their feud has been going on for 80+ years. But, through all that cat and mousing, they somehow find common ground. Saturday's matinee ending was predictably happy. 

And that's all that really matters. The relevance is not in the plot, but in the product. Tom and Jerry gave my kids an animated escape and a reentry into the magic of the movies. It gave this Dad an opportunity to think of everything that has transpired since that blue hedgehog sprinted onto the big screen.  

I recommend Tom and Jerry. More importantly, I recommend that we all move toward a healthy Spring when Mother Nature will provide us visible growth. A kaboom of bloom. Uncertainty shall remain yet I am certain communities can come together by taking small steps. Imagine if kindness defined the new-normal; if every post was positive; if Tom and Jerry still can provide the next generation of kids with what matters most...

Hope.